infectious coryza from new chickens?

I have a question regarding infectious coryza ( chicken cold)
I bought 2 new chickens ( a rhode island red and a fayoumi) on the 29th 0f August. They looked to be in good health.That evening we put them in with some of our other chickens. Two days later I noticed my partridge cochin pullet breathing very strangely( opening and closing her her mouth and taking long frequent breaths). It was during the very hot spell so my partner Richard thought it was due to the heat. I, however had spent most of the hot summer watching them and had never seen the constant opening and closing of the mouth during the heat). That same evening she was still doing it and now so was my gorgeous golden laced polish. At this point I was very concerned. In the morning we found them both dead Not only were they both dead but now our dark brahma cockerel was showing the same symptoms. Still believing it might be heat related we brought him into the house. By the next day both of his eyes and sinuses were swollen. It got so bad that he looked like a hammerhead shark. At this point I decided to do research on the internet. I discovered that all of the symptoms were that of infectious coryza( a very deadly and infectious virus that is passed quickly throughout a flock with an incubation period of 1-3 days)
Fast foward two weeks: TODAY- we have had 14 sick birds and lost in total 9 chickens , including one of my gorgeous phoenix roosters and our dark brahma cockerel. Still on a daily basis we are finding new chickens exhibiting symptoms. We have been separating the ill from the apparently healthy and it appears a few of the sick may survive.
This has been disastrous for us in many ways. There is definetely the financial loss considering how much we spent on purchasing the birds . Then there is all of the hours we spent taking care of them and the cost of feeding them . Then there is the emotional toll since we were attached to our birds. But mostly there is a loss of trust and a sadness that people could knowingly sell birds that could pass on this disease.

Here is where my question comes in( FINALLY). Since all of my birds were healthy and the last time we had any new birds enter the flock was a good 4 weeks prior ,and symptoms ONLY appeared 2days after the two new birds entered the flock ,should I assume that they brought it in? I have read that apparently healthy bids can have been sick with the illness , recover and then become transmitters. This means that all of my birds that have come into contact with these birds and those that recover must be culled. Even if they recover they will be shedders of the disease for life- sure I could sell them to unsuspecting people but that goes against my morals and principles and I would never put anyone else through the trauma that we are going through.

I have defineterly learned from this experience although it has been a very expensive lesson. I would advise anyone to be EXTREMELY careful when buying new birds and adding them to your flock ! From now on we will only buy day old chicks or fertilized eggs . I think I was too naive in believving that a bird that appeared healthy in fact was and that my biggest worry was mites and worms.... Unfortunately I will never trust anyone else selling birds again...which is very sad .

If you are still reading this thankyou for reading.

Sandra


Thankfully I do have two other coops and runs with about 20 chickens who have not come into contact with these birds so I am going to focus on them and hopefully build my flock back up.

You may of had visitors that walked through an infected coop and brought the crud to you or the last birds could of had it. No telling. You might never know where it was picked up. Good luck and hope you can kick it. Can you give the bird to someone who you know? Tell them the truth. There are some folks that just want a few birds for pets and are not interested in breeding or showing. Good luck!
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Considering the timing, it's possible that the new birds were carriers, Typhoid Marys in your flock. This is exactly why I never buy birds, not even from folks I trust.

Speckledhen

- We have definitely learned our lesson.

From here on we will only be purchasing fertilized eggs. This way we will be sure that no disease will be introduced into our flock.

RedRoosterfarm

- We are the only chicken owners in our vicinity apart from our neighbors and all of their chickens are in good health.

Since we do not sell our chickens we do not have other chicken owners on our property. Maybe we will never know which new chickens brought the disaese.

As much as I hate the thought of having to cull my flock. I feel it is the responsible thing to do

RE: the quote below by dark brahma, saying that he/she will only bring in fertilized eggs - can Coryza be transferred via hen to egg? Or, is it only direct contact to the disease through airborne means?
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From what I can find Coryza is not transmitted via eggs but MG can be.

With MG in eggs it sounds like it is possible prior to setting them to warm the eggs almost to incubation temps then dip them in cold solution of antibiotics for a few minutes so that the antibiotics are drawn into the eggs.

Not tried it, but sounds like an idea. Anyone else try this approach?

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That sounds interesting and something one might try on shipped eggs. Would try on your own cheap eggs first to see if it affected hatch rate at all. Do you know what antibiotic and what dose per gallon of water?

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Just reading thru some old posts and stumbled accross this thread. Wondering what you did with your flock, if you culled or not. If not how is your flock doing?
I had read that shickens affected with coryza will have a smelly discharge, did yours have this?
Of course it's to late now but in the future if this should return you could send in a culture to your State University Diagnoostic Lab. They can send you the transport medai and you can swab their nasal discharge etc. That way you could find out for sure what they have. You may not have to cull then.
Hope all is well now.

Thanks